This arduous subject for many could have a close relationship with certain genetic factors, as confirmed by recent research by the University of Granada.
As explained in the study, published in the journal Learning and Individual Difference , there is a close relationship between performance in mathematics and exposure to testosterone in the fetus during pregnancy.
In the research, 516 students from the first year of the Faculty of Business at the University of Granada participated, and to calculate the exposure of each of them to testosterone during their fetal development, the measurement of the so-called ‘ digit radio ‘ was used, a parameter that measures the ratio between the index finger and the ring finger.
According to this parameter, those who had a higher testosterone load in the womb have a longer ring finger . In general, boys receive a higher dose than girls, so the ‘digit radio’ is lower in boys.
The results of the study revealed that intermediate levels of ‘digit radio’ are associated with good results in this discipline, while on the contrary, both high and low ‘digit radio’ showed worse results . In addition, the relationship between this biomarker and the grades of the subject did not show differences between men and women, which implies that gender does not influence at all.
To strengthen this theory, the main author of the work and director of the department of Applied Economics of the university, Ángeles Sánchez-Domínguez, explains that this pattern has not been found in other subjects, only in mathematics, which implies that there is a relationship quadratic between said discipline and ‘digit radio’, regardless of whether the student has a high or low record in the rest of the subjects.
